11/3/09

CITY ISLAND:TWENTY WEEKS OUT PT.1

Tired of my stale postings staying up for a week or more at a time? Exhausted by my carping and complaining about glammyfestivals that didn't treat me like royalty? Wondering if this whole damn blog is simply an excercise in meta-fiction, with me being the ultimate unreliable narrator? Is there really a movie called "City Island" and is the person writing really named Raymond De Felitta...and if he's not, why would he bother impersonating this guy?

Well, folks, today's your lucky one. Today, Tuesday November 3, marks the beginning of a new life for you and me in the blogosphere. For today we are OFFICIALLY TWENTY WEEKS AWAY FROM THE US RELEASE OF OUR MOVIE. And I will be relentlessly blogging, tweeting, posting clips and still photos and whatnot for the next twenty weeks in order to build the necessary word of mouth that it takes to open an independent film and not have it disappear instantly into the vapors.

Yes, this marks the beginning of the official "Let's Make a Hit Movie Out Of CIty Island" blogathon. Although something tells me it would a more popular event if it was a "Thong-A-Blog". Har.

Now, what has this to do with you, my loyal readers? Simple. Just as I asked for your help--both actual and karmic--during our premiere at Tribeca in spreading the word about the film, I'm about to ask for your help on a much larger scale. The Tribeca stuff truly worked--I'm convinced that a large part of the buzz about the movie which resulted in the festival adding multiple screenings (all sold out) and us winning the Audience Award had a direct connection to the good vibes generated by your interest and participation.

So: what is it I'm hoping for here? Nothing less than a web-miracle (I'm sure there's some cutsy acronym for this phenomena--"webicle" or"mira-net" or somesuch). I'm hoping that we kick up so much dust via this blog, Facebook and Twitter that our opening weekend in NYC and LA kicks serious ass. And that the fan out to the next ten cities (I'll announce them soon--certainly Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston will be among them) will be equally high profile.

I want the entertainment media to notice that our movie was powered by a secret engine: the fan-base that we've developed over the last year, ever since I began blogging the making of the movie.

How to do this? Well, you might start by sending the link to this blog to a few friends every day. For that matter, send it to people who aren't your friends--spammers deserve to be in on this as well as creditors . Also bookmark me on Twitter and check in a couple of times a day--I won't be posting exclusively on "City Island" (don't really have that amount of material) but I'l always provide a link to something cinematic or musical on youtube, or perhaps an article concerning precisely what we're doing here--the rise of social networking in publicizing indie films. If you like what I've tweeted, re-tweet it to whomever (this, I'm discovering, is the truly viral use of Twitter).

There's much to do so let's roll. Twenty weeks is a good, honest amount of time to change the face of the entertainment world. Who better than you loyal City Island hounds to be at the forefront of the revolution?

Below, I've posted the trailer of "City Island" prepared a few months ago by our foreign sales company, WestEnd Films. This is not the official US trailer--that isn't ready yet--but it's a good start. Cheers!

20 weeks out... just about the time I stopped looking like I'd gained a few pounds and started looking like I was hosting a new member of the Family of Man. Perfect time to get anticipation kicking into high gear!

This business is funny you rehearse it, shoot it do everything else, Cant wait to see it, see it again, Anticipate weeks ahead when is it coming? have to see it.wait a minute 20 weeks .sometimes 14months.What actually happening is I will be 20 weeks older .I have films that I worked on cant wait to see them.But I don't want to see thembecause all that precious time makes me much older and I just want everyday to be today.but it doesn't work that way.This business makes one old to fast.because of all theI cant wait to sees. My jabber all makes sense to me.but isprobable confusing to most.Ciao